Members of DFW Prime Timers gather on the last Tuesday of each month for lunch at Hunky’s on Cedar Springs Road (Photo by David Taffet/Dallas Voice)
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
A retired college professor in Boston named Woody Baldwin never liked going to the bars. So, he put an ad in the local gay paper looking for other older gay men, like him, to meet up at the library. When he placed the ad, he hoped a few people would show up. To his surprise, 47 men attended, including a group who drove up from New York City.
That was how the Boston Prime Timers group started in 1987. Then Baldwin moved to Austin and started a group there. The idea quickly spread to Dallas, and, by 1990, the DFW chapter was up and running.
Today there are six Prime Timers chapters across Texas — in Austin, DFW, Harlingen/McAllen, Houston, Cross Timbers and San Antonio — and 70 chapters across the U.S. and Canada. The Cross Timbers group covers a 28-county area ranging from Fort Worth to Abilene to Wichita Falls.
Mark Hattan, president of the DFW chapter, said his group draws visits from members in Sherman, Tyler and Texarkana. Currently the local chapter has about 125 active members. But the group’s membership rolls have as large as 250. Some cities have what Hattan calls mega-groups with more than 1,500 members.
DFW Prime Timer events include a second Saturday lunch, a third Sunday dinner and a fourth Tuesday lunch at Hunky’s. But Prime Timers is not all eating. Other activities include twice-monthly afternoon game days at a private home and visits to a park or museum.
Hattan said some subgroups have formed; a group of Prime Timers members who are veterans visited the national cemetery on Memorial Day.
While Prime Timers is designed for older gay, bisexual and transgender men, Hattan said his chapter’s age range is from 21 to 91. Most new members have recently moved to town and are looking to make friends. Some have recently lost a partner or husband and are looking to reconnect with people.
He said Prime Timers members are “just average guys.”
“We’re on the D list,” he said, then acknowledged his members get annoyed when he says that. But he is really just poking fun at himself when he says it.
Hattan said no one in the group is expected to attend all the activities. There’s really too much going on. They keep a Google calendar, and anything listed on the calendar is open for anyone to join. But the addresses of the private homes where game days, potlucks and swim parties are held are available only to members.
The best way to meet the group, Hattan said, is to attend the last Tuesday lunch at Hunky’s at 11 a.m. or the first Tuesday lunch and games at The Flaming Buffet, 11722 Marsh Lane, Ste. 228, at 1:30 p.m. Both of these gatherings are open to non-members.
Issac Tucker, who has been a member for a year, noted, “The gay community has everything for young people. It’s nice to be surrounded by people who remember the same things you do.”
Wally Ropchan, who’s been a member of Prime Timers for three years, said he only knew one person in Dallas before he stumbled upon the group. He said a few of his favorite activities are going to a museum or the Dallas Arboretum with a small group, spending an evening at Uptown Players or taking a day trip to the tulip festival in Waxahachie.
“It gets me out of the house,” Ropchan said.
Nine-year member Harry Winn said he “joined because I was looking for a group of people to socialize with.”
Not only did he find people to socialize with, he said, “We’ve built friendships that will last the rest of our lives. We help each other when someone is sick. We take care of each other.”
Ron Le joined a year-and-a-half ago when his husband of 46 years passed away. Prime Timers embraced him, he said, giving him the chance to meet new people and participate in activities.
“I was lost,” he said. “Prime Timers has been incredible. I don’t think I would have made it without them.”
Prime Timers, he said, saved his life.